Problems in seawater industrial desalination processes and potential sustainable solutions: a review

Liyanaarachchi, S.; Shu, Li; Muthukumaran, Shobha; Jegatheesan,; Baskaran, Kanagaratnam

doi:10.1007/s11157-013-9326-y

Cited by 70 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…In RO process, a high operating pressure is applied in the saline water feed on one side of the membrane in order to overcome osmotic pressure and achieve desirable water flux. This takes up 65% -85% of total energy required in typical seawater RO (SWRO) desalination [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced both water flux and salt rejection of reverse osmosis membrane through combining isophthaloyl dichloride with biphenyl tetraacyl chloride as organic phase monomer for seawater desalination

Zhao

Zhang

Dai

et al. 2017

Journal of Membrane Science

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The mixed organic monomers of isophthaloyl dichloride (IPC) and 3,3′,5,5′-biphenyl tetraacyl chloride (BTEC) were used to prepare polyamide thin film composite (PA TFC) membranes for seawater desalination. IPC and BTEC act as a linear monomer and a cross-linking agent, respectively. As a result, the ratio of linear portion to cross-linking portion of polyamide film can be controlled by adjusting the fraction of monomer. It was found that the chemical composition, chain segment relaxation property, and the surface morphology of polyamide films changed significantly with the ratio of IPC to BTEC increasing. The rougher surface is formed while less pendant carboxylic acid groups present at higher IPC concentrations or lower BTEC concentrations. As the fraction of IPC increases, the length of linear segment between two cross linking point is increased, hence the enlarged polyamide network pore is formed. When IPC weight percentage increases from 0% to 70%, the water flux of the TFC membrane increases from 30 to 43.7 L/m 2 h and the salt rejection increases from 99.3 to 99.7% at 5.5MPa, 32800 ppm NaCl , 25±3°C testing condition. We demonstrated that both water flux and salt rejection of the polyamide membrane can be improved by the control of ratio of IPC to BTEC.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced both water flux and salt rejection of reverse osmosis membrane through combining isophthaloyl dichloride with biphenyl tetraacyl chloride as organic phase monomer for seawater desalination

Zhao

Zhang

Dai

et al. 2017

Journal of Membrane Science

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“…In the next future, the conversion rate may be doubled or triplicated, making the conceptual system proposed here highly realizable and economically viable at least from a long-term perspective. Other problems in seawater desalination processes can be addressed in potential sustainable ways [14].…”

Section: Potential Disadvantagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Future Photovoltaic-Based Agriculture in Sea

Moustafa

2016

Trends in Biotechnology

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To meet the challenges of climate change and water shortages, combining solar energy-based seawater desalination technologies with floating agriculture stations in one innovative hybrid system would be worthy of investigation for dry and sunny regions for seawater desalination and crop production within the same platform. Here, I discuss the feasibility of such a 'floating farm' or 'bluehouse' in the sea, by comparing it with the use of terrestrial greenhouses. I also debate the potential advantages and shortcomings of such a system.

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“…Most researches are mainly focused on the energy and yield efficiency of desalination techniques, with inadequate emphasis on industrial needs [31][32][33]. In the industry, all desalination systems are designed to optimize the delivered full cycle cost to the consumer as opposed to energy consumption [34]. Despite intensive research in this area, the energy consumption of water, desalination technologies have not substantially changed within the past decade [35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Looking Beyond Energy Efficiency: An Applied Review of Water Desalination Technologies and an Introduction to Capillary-Driven Desalination

Ahmadvand

Abbasi

Azarfar

et al. 2019

Water

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Most notable emerging water desalination technologies and related publications, as examined by the authors, investigate opportunities to increase energy efficiency of the process. In this paper, the authors reason that improving energy efficiency is only one route to produce more cost-effective potable water with fewer emissions. In fact, the grade of energy that is used to desalinate water plays an equally important role in its economic viability and overall emission reduction. This paper provides a critical review of desalination strategies with emphasis on means of using low-grade energy rather than solely focusing on reaching the thermodynamic energy limit. Herein, it is argued that large-scale commercial desalination technologies have by-and-large reached their engineering potential. They are now mostly limited by the fundamental process design rather than process optimization, which has very limited room for improvement without foundational change to the process itself. The conventional approach toward more energy efficient water desalination is to shift from thermal technologies to reverse osmosis (RO). However, RO suffers from three fundamental issues: (1) it is very sensitive to high-salinity water, (2) it is not suitable for zero liquid discharge and is therefore environmentally challenging, and (3) it is not compatible with low-grade energy. From extensive research and review of existing commercial and lab-scale technologies, the authors propose that a fundamental shift is needed to make water desalination more affordable and economical. Future directions may include novel ideas such as taking advantage of energy localization, surficial/interfacial evaporation, and capillary action. Here, some emerging technologies are discussed along with the viability of incorporating low-grade energy and its economic consequences. Finally, a new process is discussed and characterized for water desalination driven by capillary action. The latter has great significance for using low-grade energy and its substantial potential to generate salinity/blue energy.

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Problems in seawater industrial desalination processes and potential sustainable solutions: a review

Cited by 70 publications

References 49 publications

Enhanced both water flux and salt rejection of reverse osmosis membrane through combining isophthaloyl dichloride with biphenyl tetraacyl chloride as organic phase monomer for seawater desalination

Enhanced both water flux and salt rejection of reverse osmosis membrane through combining isophthaloyl dichloride with biphenyl tetraacyl chloride as organic phase monomer for seawater desalination

Toward Future Photovoltaic-Based Agriculture in Sea

Looking Beyond Energy Efficiency: An Applied Review of Water Desalination Technologies and an Introduction to Capillary-Driven Desalination

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